Ukraine gears up for DTH encryption

Some 100,000 set-box boxes have already been delivered to Ukraine ahead of the encryption of satellite TV services.

According to Mediasat, another 500,000 are expected by the end of the summer.

It adds, quoting Jarolslav Pakholchuk, executive director of 1+1 Media, speaking to Telekritika, that the four leading TV companies in Ukraine – 1+1 Media, StarLightMedia, Inter Media Group and Media Group Ukraine – intend to encode their satellite TV services on January 20 next year.

All told, around $7.5 million has so far been invested to date on implementing conditional access, of which $2.5 million was from media holdings and the remainder operators and equipment suppliers.

An information campaign is planned to start on August 25, with the first encoding set to follow at the beginning on November.

Encrypted satellite TV services are expected to reach around 2 million viewers in Ukraine.